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Screwed by Custom Fees!!

Greetings my fellow Canadians,

Today, I went to pick up my shipment of five figures from www.toymaniacs.com from my local post office when I was told by the post-office lady that I had to pay $13.53 cutoms for US to Canada goods. Outraged, for never experiencing this charge before, I had to pay up in order to receive my goodies.

I used to order lots from the Star Wars fan club without having to pay customs. What's the difference between ordering from the Fan club and from Toymaniacs anyway? Someone please tell me.

The post-office lady told me that I was "lucky" in the past because the customs guys at the border didn't check the boxes properly or something, but this time, I was unlucky.

Angered and irritated, I decided to go on a crazy shopping frenzy at the mall across the street, hoping to find great buys to compensate for my expensive internet purchase.

The result, I went into 3 different stores and found the following:

-Death Star Trooper accessory kit at Zellers
-Luke with Landspeeder at TRU, and only for $14.98 CAN!
-Bespin Luke with weathervane, also at TRU
-Luke in Bacta Tank at Walmart, on sale for $5 bucks!

Now I don't feel AS ripped off, but I am truly greatful for finding these, and all at once too.

Anyways... enough ranting and bragging, take care.
...And becareful next time you order from the Internet.

What you paid was likely NOT duty, but rather the GST on the Canadian equivalent of your order. The post office workers screw that up a lot. It's the unfortunate side of ordering from a US retailer - they usually want to check off everything they've sent on the box to avoid border hassles and delays. Check the papers the post office gave you for the itemized expenses and see if it's the GST. If so, you're euchered. If it was duty - call Canada Customs and ask if you can get an exception. All you have to do is mail it in and wait for your rebate. I don't believe toys are supposed to have duty attached.

In the future, ask your vendor to mark the pkg as a "gift", and you should be able to avoid these types of charges.

Hey no problem, Ive been getting pretty much 99% of my stuff from US friends/vendors since POTJ. Ive been burnt a million different ways and hope to help you avoid the same problems Ive faced. Good luck!

Ouch, how does the Canadian dollar compare to US dollar right now, do you know? I know it used to be 75 cents to the dollar. Do you go into Washington state to buy figures and stuff? Just looking at your location Fourtwo, it says West coast Canada, sorry, guess you could live too far North to do that. About like asking me if I go to Mexico regularly because I am in central US.

My Jedi name is Merdar Iyu
Chewie? Chewie!!! Have you even seen Star Wars?!!
"Lev, have you ever heard of Evil Kenevil?" "No, I never saw Star Wars"

That's why we so frequently wait for sales to buy our figs, which in turn leads our stores to NOT order more toys as they won't sell for profits. If they were only ordering a few at a time (2 cases say) they'd likely sell out at regular price. My stupid store orders one crapload every 6mths or so, then I have to wait around for them to lower prices many weeks down the road so the kiddies will buy the last 10 or so peggers. Stupid Zellers needs some strategic assistance.